The 💎Sri Lanka Army wi♔ll take part in a farming drive aimed at cultivating over 1,500 acres of barren or abandoned state land to multiply food production and avert any shortage in the future, according to a media report.
The army established its Green Agricu𒆙lture Steering Committee (GASC) on Thursday to supplement and promote the food security programme in Sri Lanka which is faci🐟ng its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
The economic crisis has led to an acute shortage 🔯of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas, fuel and toilet paper, with Sri Lankans being forced to wait in lin💫es for hours outside stores to buy fuel and cooking gas.
The emergency project to be kicked off by early July as a supportive mechanism to the government’s cultivation drive is spearheaded by Lieutenant General Vikumꦺ Liyanage, Commander of the Army. Major General Jagath Kodithuwakku, the Chief of Staff, is set to 𝐆supervise the entire project.
The troops will first prepare the ground by weeding, tilling and preparing beds for the cultivation of selected seed varieties in co🌼nsultati🧸on with agricultural experts, newsfirst.lk reported on Friday.
All Security Force Headquarters and format꧑ions across the country are currently screening possibil๊ities for adding their weight to the task at a regional level.
The identification of state lands at regional level will be done in close consultation with respective governors, district and divisional secretariats, land officials and Grama Seva officials 𒉰before the commencement of preliminary ground-prepar💯ing work in selected lands, the report said.
Sri Lanka has decided t🌟o import 50,000 metric tonnes of rice under the Indian credit 🔜line to curb an abnormal rise in rice prices, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday, as the island nation is grappling with an impending food shortage.
The decision was taken after a discussion held at the Prime Minister’s Off🎉ice to allocate funds to the State Trading Corporation under the Indian loan assistance programme, news portal EconomyNext reported.
In March, ඣIndia extended a USD 1 billion credit line to the cash-strapped Sri Lankan government to tide over the current economic turmoil as well as in dealing with the food short🅘age.
After an agreement to extend the line of credit was inked, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India has always stood with the people of Sri La💖nka and will continue to ext🌱end all possible support to the country.
In April 2021, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa an🎉nounced a ban on chemic🧸al fertilisers, which led to a crippling blow to the production of rice and other essential food items.
Prior to the fertiliser ban, Sri Lanka was self-sufficient in rice production. The situation was exacerbated by an a🍃cute scarcity of foreign exchange reserves, which meant that the Sri Lankan e🗹conomy would head into a tailspin.
Prime Minister🌳 Wickremesinghe said recently in Parliament that Sri Lanka will need USD 5 billion to ensure that the people’s daily lives are not disrupted for the next six months.
The nearly bankrupt country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in fore🧸ign debt default, ann🥀ounced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026.
S꧂ri Lanka's total foreign dꦡebt stands at USD 51 billion.
Sri Lanka is awaiting official confirmation from India on a new credit line that would allow the cash-strapped natio🙈n to have supplies of petrol and diesel for the next 🦂four months, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said on Friday.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that a new Credit Line provided by India will support the cash-strapped island nation’s fue♐l purchase for another four months from July even as an LPG shipment o▨f 3,500 MT reached Sri Lanka.
(With PTI inputs)
